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Tuesday, 16 April 2013

Are your children watching these cartoons?

Cartoons have been around since Walt Disney gave
birth to them with his pencil. Since then, there have been few artists
who have treaded into the unknown and conjured some rather controversial
cartoons and characters that’ve ruffled few feathers the world over.

Cartoons have been around since Walt Disney gave birth to them with his pencil. Since then, there have been few artists who have treaded into the unknown and conjured some rather controversial cartoons and characters that’ve ruffled few feathers the world over.

Let’s have a look at them!

1. Family Guy

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Seth MacFarlane and his genius creation, Family Guy has got the whole world bowled over. A cartoon series loosely based on the Simpson’s structure, Family Guy delves into a much more twisted and obscure form of humour revolving around racism, gore, drugs, sexism and such. If that wasn’t enough, it’s loaded with some highly controversial characters. For instance, the toddler, Stewie, is a highly intellectual yet sadistic kid who shows homosexual and cross-dressing tendencies once in a while. There is a wife who is a masochistic in bed, a pervert neighbour, a daughter who’s a reject, and a talking dog who dates women and lusts after his owner’s wife! Yes, that’s how twisted they are.

2. South Park

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Yet another cartoon series of today, South Park is loaded with an overdose of black humour, satire, and everything in between. Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park came into being in 1997. It revolves around the lives of four teenagers and their dealings with life’s issues. Filled with crude language and obscenity, it pokes fun at new emerging religions like Scientology, etc. and upon other sensitive subjects. South Park has been under the limelight for all the wrong reasons like satirizing Prophet Mohammed, making fun of dyslexic and schizophrenic people to name a few!

3. Speedy Gonzales

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A Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies character by Warner Brothers, Speedy Gonzales is ‘the fastest mouse in all Mexico’ and dresses and talks like a Mexican villager. Conceived in 1955, right during the peak of colour and racial discrimination, Speedy proved to be the perfect description of a stereotypical Mexican of those days. Airing of Speedy Gonzales brought upon a huge uproar among the Mexicans residing in America and the series was taken off several times until the discrimination curbed down. As of today, Speedy cartoons are followed by a disclaimer stating “The cartoons you are about to see are products of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While the following does not represent the WB (Warner Bros) view of society, these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as to claim these prejudices never existed.”

4. Song of the South

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Walt Disney was known to hide sexual Easter eggs in his cartoons, or do something oddly quirky to catch the on-lookers eyeballs, and he did the same with Songs of the South. Produced by Disney in 1946, it revolved around black slaves and their masters and an adventure they embark on. Unfortunately, the movie was made during the peak of Negro slavery and racism. It was caught in a tornado of controversy all thanks to its sensitive content. The movie never saw an official release and the DVD release is heavily edited.

5. Happy Tree Friends

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A brilliant series from Mondo Mini Shows, Happy Tree Friends comprises of episodes lasting one to seven minutes and there’s only one thing that splatters in this one; blood, blood, and some more blood. Happy Tree Friends has a bunch of cute animals living in a civilized set-up, and they undergo a series of unfortunate events that turn them into gory, bloody and horrifying creatures. To put it in simple words, it’s equivalent to watching a Hello Kitty cartoon based on SAW! It’s adorably repulsive and grotesque at the same time!

6. Bugs Bunny

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Probably one of the funniest characters from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, Bugs Bunny is the only one other than Mickey Mouse to have a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. But yet again, Bugs isn’t what he looks like. Beneath the ridiculously funny bunny things lies a twisted rabbit with some racial issues. Bugs Bunny has been portrayed as a racially abusive person in numerous episodes taking jabs at blacks, Asians, Eskimos and tonnes others. If we dig deeper, there have been traces of dozens of Bugs’ episodes being pulled off air for being too controversial!

7. Donald Duck

Who would have thought this duck with his crazy antics would be a controversial figure, yet one of Walt Disney’s flagship characters is charged with the same allegations like the others in the list. If memory, would serve you right there have been many episodes depicting Donald Duck’s past of him being in the army during World War II. Those episodes proved to be a subtle racial propaganda with Donald dreaming of being Hitler and taking control of the Nazi army and so on. And this is just one instance from the few controversial episodes that were aired during its time!